Who's Joe Miller? Glance through coverage of Joe Miller, the dark horse candidate who's threatening to unseat Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Five women sat behind five tables and fed ballots through Accu-Vote machines Tuesday morning at the Alaska Division of Elections in Midtown Anchorage, the current site of the simmering fight between U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Fairbanks attorney Joe Miller.

By Tuesday afternoon at 4:56 p.m., Murkowski was still down by 1,469 votes.

The first round of results cut Joe Miller's lead to 1,325 votes. But the second update put him up by 1,460, and the third, at 1:15 p.m., had him leading by 1,294 votes. About 15,000 ballots will have been counted by the end of Tuesday, a mix of absentee, questioned, and early ballots that could determine the result of the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. At last count, the Alaska Division of Elections had Miller with 50.60 percent of the vote and Murkowski gaining with 49.40 percent.

Districts that had not yet reported their absentee ballots Tuesday afternoon included Wrangell, one Juneau district, Beaver, two Fairbanks districts, Kenai, Nikiski, Homer, and Kodiak. The Alaska Division of Elections expected those results to be in and the count to be done by about 6 p.m., with no more counting to be done until Friday.

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"If I was in Lisa's camp, I wouldn't be feeling real good," said Marc Hellenthal, who conducted a poll earlier in this campaign season.

Another Anchorage pollster, Ivan Moore agreed, saying "I think it's probably more likely than not that Lisa will lose."

In the Miller camp, spirits were predictably running high.

"We're excited; we're confident to see our lead hold," said Randy DeSoto, Miller's spokesman. "There's excitement and anticipation for seeing the greater numbers come in."

As the sun set on the day of the primary, Aug. 24, Miller was up by 1,668 votes. That's the margin Murkowski had hoped to eliminate by Sept. 8, when all votes have been counted.

On the other side of the room from the ballot counting, separated by a tall temporary wall, a grey-haired woman examined ballots from a plastic tote labeled "District 22 Questioned to be reviewed." There will still be 5,000 questioned ballots left to be counted after Tuesday, said Gail Fenumiai, director of Alaska Division of Elections.

Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who is responsible for overseeing elections in the state, stopped by around 10:45 a.m. and spoke with Fenumiai. In front of them, small groups made up of election workers and observers from the Murkowski and Miller camps went over questioned ballots to determine their eligibility, though Fenumiai said few ballots had been challenged.

Fenumiai also shed some light on the logistical pathway the Anchorage ballots follow. They are kept locked and under alarm when not being worked on, Fenumiai said, in an aptly-named space called "the ballot room." A review board then opens, counts, and reseals the ballots, signing the outside of the envelope, before returning them to the ballot room where they are kept until they are sent on to Juneau.

The questioned ballots for House Districts 13, 14, 15, and 16 that were scheduled to be counted Tuesday (a total of 1,273 ballots, all from the Mat-Su Valley) will instead be tallied Friday because the board was not available for counting, Fenumiai announced Tuesday afternoon.